


Fragments

by perch



Category: Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-23
Updated: 2009-12-23
Packaged: 2017-10-05 02:30:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/36827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perch/pseuds/perch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In A Treatise On The Esthetics Inherit in All Felines Sebastian waxes poetic about his favorite feline part. Dark and Stormy Fairy Tales sees Ciel in the dubious position of being involved in a fairy tale setting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fragments

**Author's Note:**

  * For [acathexis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/acathexis/gifts).



**Dark and Stormy Fairy Tales  
**

It was a dark and stormy night. The windows of the Phantomhive Manor rattled under the battering wind from outside. The young master, a mere child of thirteen by the name of Ciel Phantomhive sat in a chair by the fireplace, reading a book of short stories.

"The Blue Fairy Book," Sebastian- his faithful, if rather demonic, butler- read aloud. "That seems rather childish for you to read, but perhaps also age appropriate?"

Ciel slammed the book down. "Not at all! Elizabeth gave me a copy. I was merely trying to decide the best possible way to destroy it."

"If that is your wish," Sebastian said, casually picking the book up and tossing it towards the fire.

"Don't burn it," Ciel said, bored. "It's apparently only has a limited print run and if I misplace my copy permanently I'll never hear the end of it. Elizabeth is planning on coming by next week to discuss favorite stories."

Sebastian caught the volume in midair and proceeded to flip through its contents.

"Little Red Riding Hood," Sebastian said, "She gets eaten by the wolf in the end, serves her right."

"I haven't read that one, why was she with a wolf?"

"Apparently the chit didn't know it wasn't safe to speak with them."

"She got what she deserved then."

Sebastian flipped ahead, paused, flipped back a few pages and then read intently.

"What is it," Ciel asked, more interested in Sebastian's rapt expression than any silly fairy tale.

Sebastian ignored him and continued to read, flipping back to the front and then again to the middle stopping to read intently once more.

"What has your interest something with cats?" Ciel asked, watching as Sebastian became downright gooey with joy. Ciel didn't enjoy seeing that when Sebastian had a real feline in his arms, this disturbed him just as much.

"Put it down," Ciel said.

Sebastian ignored him.

After a few minutes Sebastian glanced at his pocket watch and then Ciel, "May I borrow this?"

"Absolutely not," Ciel dead-panned and took the book from him.

In his bedroom Ciel skimmed such tales as Little Red Riding Hood, for the good part, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Aladdin and so forth. He paused to read Master Cat and The White Cat shaking his head at Sebastian as he did. He did slow down for Hansel and Gretel, Toads and Diamonds and Bluebeard before finally putting the book down to get some sleep.

"Bunch of silly immature stories for brats," he muttered to himself as he turned on his side. Outside the sky danced with lightning, continuing it's tumultuous downpour.

_  
a) Lost in the Woods_  
Ciel was walking down a moonlit street in London. Before him was the broad back of...his father? He tried to walk closer to the man, but couldn't get close the distance. As they twisted through the streets of the city he got progressively more and more lost until, turning a corner, he was alone.

He started to backtrack, running into a wolf in a butler suit, or was it a butler that reminded him of a wolf?   
"It's rather late for small children to be out," the wolf said.

Ciel ignored him and continued down the street.

"Hey now, don't be like that," the wolf tried again. "A pretty child like you shouldn't be wandering around the city by yourself."

"I'm quite capable on my own," Ciel said, brushing off the man's paws. "I also have my butler with me."

Around them the city was quiet.

"Now that's really interesting, it is indeed," the wolf said. "It seems to me, that you're all alone and look so very tasty."

"Sebastian." Ciel stared unflinchingly at the wolf, that was also a man, waiting for Sebastian to come to his side.

"Oh of course, it's a dream," he muttered and then pulled his pistol from his back holster and shot the wolf.

Ciel turned and continued to walk down the street, waiting to wake up.

"Now that wasn't very nice," he heard the voice growl next to his ear.

Turning he came face to face with the wolf, staring down at him with snarling teeth and missing a good chunk of his left eye. Perhaps more a wolf than a man, Ciel guessed, so he took the next best option and ran.

He ran down streets long and streets short and turned every corner he could think of, his mind telling his feet to stop- as it was just encouraging the wolf to chase him, not to mention downright degrading. His legs told his brain to kindly bugger off and nearly stepped on the blonde girl in the alley he'd turned into.

"Who are you," he asked, cocking his pistol in her face.

The girl stared unflinching at the gun and indicated a small hidey hole behind her.

Definitely a dream, Ciel thought.

"Where are we going," he whispered, following her into the dirty hole in the wall.

"To hide from the bear," she said.

"Bears?" Ciel asked, "Oh you're the one who married a bear."

"Where'd you hear that," she asked whirling on him and hitting him in the face with her long hair.

"Forget it," he answered.

"I didn't marry the bear, that was my sister," she said as they continued.

"Frankly I don't care about your not-so-secret bestiality," Ciel responded, moving through the end of the tunnel and out into an open section of street.

"What's that?" he asked, staring at the strangely glowing house in front of him. "Gingerbread?"

"We'll be safe there," she answered by way of not answering, grabbing his hand.

"Don't touch me," he said, pulling it out of her fingers.

Still he felt compelled to follow her, like he felt compelled to run before, and silently cursed the bizarre complexity of dreams that forced people to do things they didn't wish to do. He kept the pistol in his hand, vaguely recalling an ogre or troll or something that lived in the house, but when they opened the door the house was strangely empty.

This isn't right, he thought, there's supposed to be something here.

"You can hang your coat over there," she said, pointing to a row of coat hooks made of chocolate.

"No thanks, Sebastian wouldn't let me hear the end of it," Ciel responded, watching the girl break off a side of table to munch on.

I'm missing something he thought, touring the tiny cottage, staring at the stove, the half-eaten table, the chairs and the bed. What am I missing?

Just then a shadow crossed the outside of the cottage. Ciel and the girl instinctively ducked down and made motions for silence. After a few minutes the shadow left and they sat on the floor, breathing a sigh of shared relief.

"Wolf," Ciel said by way of explanation.

"Bear," she responded.

They nodded in silent understanding.

Ciel continued to look around at the room, noticing a pile of straw in the corner. He wandered over to it, sticking a bit in his mouth and confirming that it was indeed real straw and not dream candy. While brushing his tongue off he noticed something poking from the bottom. He moved the straw aside to see the corpse of what he'd guess to be a girl his own age.

Turning he saw the blonde girl smiling sweetly at him holding up a large knife.

"I'm sorry, but the only one allowed to kill me is Sebastian," Ciel calmly explained, waiting for the blow that never came and instead jerking sleepily in his bed before tossing over.

  
_b) Ciel and the Blue Beast_

It was cold. Ciel might even go so far as to say it was freezing. He might even get carried away enough to declare it should be outlawed to be this cold in what is, arguably, definitely a dream. Then he stumbled into the gate. He tried to find a bell, but not caring in a few minutes he let himself in and wandered through a garden.

Odd how the flowers are pristine in a blizzard, Ciel thought, having upgraded the storm. Before him he saw an old man reaching out to break off a flower, blatantly ignoring the "please do not touch the flowers" sign directly in front of him. Ciel watched in fascination as the rose snapped off and then a calamitous ringing came over the place. The old man hurried past him, slipping the rose into his pocket on his way out.

"Hey, what are you...?" Ciel called, but the old man was gone and before him was a tremendously large, very blue, cat like creature-man who seemed more creature than man.

"Why'd you pick my rose?!" the Beast roared.

Ciel offered it back, but the Beast threw it aside so he simply looked at the monster, the tiniest corner of his heart deeply afraid on an instinctual, primal level. He then smiled blandly and waited to wake up since his life was threatened, but was rewarded with more temper tantrums.

"Oh stop, you have a whole garden," Ciel pointed out.

"Doesn't matter, if one person picks my rose, then everyone will pick my roses!" the beast snarled.

"Seriously how many visitors do you receive?" Ciel asked.

The Beast paused in his ranting long enough to look sheepish.

"Spot of tea?" he offered.

"Sure, why the hell not," Ciel replied, desperately wanting to go back to his normal dreamless night.

They sat and talked over a spot of tea. Ciel pointed out the Beast's tendencies to blame others for his own mistakes, listing his past foibles of

1\. Kicking the elderly out during a storm rather than having his butler redirect them to a shelter.  
2\. Refusing to socialize and having extreme personal rules and then complaining that no one ever comes to visit him.  
3\. His lack of personal hygiene.

Ciel stayed in the house long enough and had enough tedious conversations that he was afraid he'd bore himself into a death. He then thought of how Sebastian would cackle over that prospect and started to suspect that Sebastian was in point of fact responsible for his interminable dream.

"You know, you're the first young man I've had here,'" the Beast mentioned by way of conversation during one supper. "Usually it's young ladies."

"How do you manage that?" Ciel asked, slightly interested despite himself.

"Threaten the people who pick the roses with death if they don't bring me someone," the Beast responded matter-of-factly.

"Right," Ciel calmly waited for a servant to pour him a new cup of tea, "and what happens to them?"

"Well after a while they always ask to go home," the Beast says, "or I get tired of asking for their hands in marriage."

"And how often do you do that?" Ciel asked.

"After every meal."

Ciel was happy that the Beast was definitely interested in the female persuasion and that there was no one here to force him to dress up like a lady.

"So what happens to the ladies?"

"Oh I put them in the special room. Would you like to come see?"

"Not especially, but if it might shock me awake sure."

"You're talking about it all being a dream again aren't you?"

And down the stairs they went. Down many, many stairs and corridors and passages barely lit until finally the Beast found a blue door and opened it with a small golden key. Inside the room sat Sebastian, enjoying a cup of tea, while around him were the bodies of numerous women in various states of decomposition.

"It's about time you came," Sebastian said. "You have absolutely no curiosity."

"I knew you did it on purpose!"

Waking up Ciel caught Sebastian reading the book. He threw a pillow at him.

"Good morning," Sebastian said, noting the state of his sheets. "Perhaps this was too adult for you after all?"

"I"ll kill you," Ciel snarled.

When Elizabeth came over Ciel refused to discuss the book with her, but she and Sebastian had a very pleasant conversation about Puss in Boots and The White Cat.

**  
A Treatise On The Esthetics Inherit in All Felines **

There really was nothing like rubbing a cats paw to brighten an otherwise abysmal day. Sebastian stroked the black stray's satiny coat, rubbing his gloved fingers over the velvety paws. He'd been finding himself going out for more "comfort pets" than usual lately, but when one's the butler for a sadistic child Napolean and surrounded by a string of incompetent imbeciles one had to find his pleasures where he may.

Really, Sebastian mused, the best part of a cat are their paws. He gently pushed to watch the claws pop out. Of course the claws are also adorable, especially when rending the bodies of their victims. Also one cannot forget their button noses, sharp fangs and large expressive eyes.

Yet, if he had to choose just one feature, Sebastian would have to say it was definitely the paws. As he cuddled the stray he felt a tugging on his pant leg to find another cat reaching up for pets.

"I can't keep you, but I want to, I do," Sebastian said, cuddling the second feline in his large arms. He would have contentedly stayed that way for at least ten more minutes if he wasn't already two minutes behind schedule.

"Come back again tomorrow," he called to the cats as he turned back to the mansion. Now he had to see about tormenting, that is educating (through torment) his Master.

'Yes I think translating a Latin text without a dictonary is needed today,' he thought, a wicked smile curving his face.

He was a damn fine butler after all, if he did think so himself and prove countless times a day.

**Author's Note:**

> Big thank you to my husband for the beta.


End file.
